This year, Extendicare Hillcrest Place residents, Gordon and Olivia Sim, will be celebrating 61 years of marriage (which “seems like forever” to Olivia). On Valentine’s Day, they are reflecting on their many years together and what it takes to have a long lasting, happy, and successful partnership.
The couple met by chance – Gordon was visiting one of his colleagues at their home, and Olivia was also at the house visiting a friend of hers. At the end of the night, and after a cup of coffee, Olivia said she had to leave to catch a bus home – but that didn’t sit right with Gordon. He wouldn’t let her take the bus so late at night and offered her a ride.
That was the beginning of their love story.
Shortly after, they began dating. With Gordon serving in the military at the time, he was often away. Initially, the couple didn’t get to spend much time together. “It’s good to be away for a bit, because then you can really appreciate each other when you come back,” he says. “When we weren’t together, we were writing love letters,” Olivia says.
How did he know she was the one? “She was always waiting for me when I was gone. I always had someone to come home to,” says Gordon. “I always knew he was coming back. I never worried about it,” chimes in Olivia.
Gordon proposed to Olivia two years after dating. Like most couples, mix-ups and complications happen on the wedding day – Gordon and Olivia’s wedding was no exception.
“When it came time for the wedding, the Minister never showed up. He forgot about us!” said Gordon. Thankfully, their wedding did happen – it was just delayed by an hour.
After almost 61 years of marriage, two children, and one grandchild later, Gordon and Olivia shared with us their three tips for a long and successful marriage together:
- Trust your partner – shortly after they got married, Gordon was posted in Germany. The newlyweds had to pack up their belongings and move to a new country – unsure of what was to come.
- Enjoy every moment of quality time together- when they began dating, Gordon was away more often than he was there. This made their time together as a couple very special.
- Support each other though challenging times – Like all couples, Gordon and Olivia have had to face challenging times where they needed each other’s support. They recall a time when Olivia was pregnant with their first child, and she was extremely ill, and Gordon had decided to stay home to look after her.
This Valentine’s Day, they will cherish the ability to do something they didn’t have the chance in the early stages of their love story: spending quality time together.
